Eva Longoria Is Obama's Newest Hispanic Political Power Chip

Eva Longoria, the actress best known for her racy Desperate
Housewives character, has emerged as a political operator and
Hispanic activist with Barack Obama's ear after starring at the
presidential inauguration.

She shot to fame as a sultry seductress in Desperate Housewives,
is regularly featured on glossy magazine lists of "hottest
women," is producing a dating reality show in Los Angeles and has
been romantically attached to top sports stars.

But Eva Longoria has now taken on new role — reinventing herself
as a political activist on the national stage, a champion of
immigration reform and Hispanic causes and a confidante of Barack
and Michelle Obama.

During celebrations for the president's second inauguration in
Washington last weekend, the 37-year-old actress seemed
ubiquitous among the wide-eyed celebrities that swirled around
the first couple. Yet she is also playing an increasingly serious
part in American public life: using her profile to push for
greater recognition of the contribution made by the country's
largest minority, to culture, the economy and to politics.

Last night she was due to chair a question and answer session in
Los Angeles with US Justice Sonia Sotomayor, the first Hispanic
to sit on the United States Supreme Court - a woman who herself
began life in a poor district of New York but clawed her way up
through education and hard work to the highest court in the land.

Longoria is far from the first Hollywood celebrity to be
attracted by the glamorous aspects of American politics. But she
had earned her formal position as co-chair of President Obama's
inaugural committee - with a seat on the platform for his
swearing in and an invitation to the private party at the White
House after the public events - by her work during his election
campaign.

She helped channel millions of dollars towards his campaign at
fundraising parties and emerged as an articulate spokeswoman for
the president on the stump.

Now she is campaigning to persuade Americans that the country's
current immigration laws need to be reformed, to make it easier
for the children of illegal immigrants to become US citizens and
to provide a pathway to citizenship for their parents - something
which Mr Obama will be pushing for as part of a new package of
legislation he has promised to unveil in the next few weeks.

Republicans have previously tried to block any such reform but,
since Mr Obama won three quarters of the Latino vote at the
election, are now considering how to reshape their own policies:
a moment of opportunity,Longoria believes.

"I think the Republicans are going to realise, if they don't do
it because it's morally imperative, they have to do it because
it's politically imperative," she told an interviewer.

"And if they're not going to do it because it's politically
imperative, they've got to do it because it's economically
imperative. So there's a lot of gains for everybody, no matter
what party affiliation, to get this done and to fix this
problem."

To underscore her point, last week she also helped host a brunch
organised by The Daily Beast media group in Washington, attended
by senior political figures from both sides of the political
divide, aimed at increasing cooperation between Democrats and
Republicans in policy making.

"There has never been a moment when bi-partisanship is more
important," she told the gathering of movers and shakers in US
politics and media, co-hosted by Mark McKinnon, who was a
communications strategist for President George W Bush.

"We all went through the bruising campaign together and we were
all very loyal to our parties, to our candidates, but now it's
time to be loyal to America," she added. "I think we can do
that."

It is not the former Texas beauty queen's first foray into the
arena of public policy. She helped set up the Futuro Fund, that
has become a major national voice on Latino issues, and has
employed a political and philanthropic consultant who has worked
with the music stars Bono and Madonna to advise on her charitable
foundation.

The emergence of the petite brunette as a skilled political
operator reflects both her own personal interests and also the
growing financial and electoral clout of the Hispanic community.
And for Mr Obama and his fellow Democrats, the inauguration was a
chance to solidify their standing with a key voting bloc.

At first glance, it is all quite a change of character for an
actress best known as the raunchy Gaby in the Desperate
Housewives television series - and whose love life is a staple of
the gossip columns.

Indeed, just a week before her starring role at the inauguration,
she was making very different headlines for a nipple-flashing
"wardrobe malfunction" in a low-cut dress on the red carpet after
the Golden Globes awards show.

She is divorced from Tyler Christopher, a soap opera actor, and
Tony Parker, a basketball star, and recently dated Mark Sanchez,
a dashing American football quarterback more than a decade her
junior.

But Longoria had previously returned to university in Los Angeles
to study American-Hispanic history, and emerged last summer she
emerged on to a national political stage with an assured
performance at the Democratic National Convention.

She tore up a draft speech sent by the campaign, complaining that
it was "too much rah-rah and too little substance" and failed to
convey why, from her own lower middle class background, she
supported Mr Obama.

Instead, she produced one of the convention's most quotable
put-downs when she attacked the Republican candidate Mitt Romney
for supporting tax cuts for the rich. "The Eva Longoria who
worked at Wendy's flipping burgers -- she needed a tax break,"
she said. "But the Eva Longoria who works on movie sets does
not."

The line brought a rousing ovation from the party faithful for an
actress born in Texas to Mexican-American parents but who last
year made an estimated $15 million from television and film and
endorsements such as L'Oreal.

It subsequently emerged that, away from the cameras, she had
played a key part in persuading Mr Obama to keep pushing for
immigration reform despite opposition in Congress.

She admits that she is taking some professional risks with her
support for the Democrats. "Half my movie tickets and my products
are bought by Republicans," she acknowledged recently.

She seemed to be addressing some of those concerns at the power
brunch co-hosted with Mr McKinnon, the co-founder of No Labels, a
grouping of Republicans, Democrats and independents established
to pursue policy solutions across party lines.

"Eva is the real deal, very authentic," he told The Sunday
Telegraph. "Unlike a lot of Hollywood celebrities, her political
activity is not just checking the box. She has blue collar roots,
she's passionate about issues and she does her homework.

"Eva recognises that hyper partisanship is poisoning the
landscape, making problem solving more difficult, and that's why
she's engaged in a discussion with No Labels."

Now there is a growing clamour in Hispanic and Democrat circles
for the self-described "political junkie" to run for office
herself. Longoria is seeking to quell those calls -- for now at
least.

"I respect everything that politicians do," she said. "I think
it's a very, very big job, but it's not my day job."